This invention relates to an epilator for plucking hairs from the human skin, comprising a housing in which an epilating head driven by drive elements and carrying plucking elements is mounted, provision being made in the area of the epilating head for movably mounted driven elements for the mechanical stimulating striking of the skin by a contact element.
An epilator of this type is known from WO 97/19613, for example. This document shows, integrated in an epilator, a massage arm with elastic projections of a soft material facing the skin, which is guided by two guide rods and, driven by an eccentric cam, is moved back and forth in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the housing. The eccentric cam acts upon the massage arm via a helical spring and causes a moment in alternate directions to be exerted on the massage arm. The magnitude of the force transmitted from the eccentric cam onto the massage arm is defined by the clamping conditions and the geometrical dimensions, and hence the stimulation of the user""s skin by the massage arm is always constant. Furthermore, there is a risk that the rectilinear movement of the massage arm in conjunction with the arched outer contour of the housing will pinch the user""s skin.
From EP A 760 219 there is also known a stimulation device for the user""s skin which is integrated in an epilator to reduce pain. The stimulation device disclosed in this specification comprises a U-shaped yoke pivot-mounted on the housing and driven to oscillate directly by cams arranged on the epilating cylinder when said cylinder rotates. In this arrangement both the stroke and the frequency of the stimulation device are constant, hence the intensity of the skin stimulation is of a fixed, predetermined magnitude with this appliance, too.
A further disadvantage shared by the two known epilators is their special, elaborate drive mechanism for the driven skin stimulation device.
It is known that the stimulation devices of the epilators serve to reduce the user""s subjective sense of pain when plucking body hairs. This is achieved in that an additional irritation, which is less intense or physiologically less disagreeable than the pain of plucking, is superimposed on the pain caused by plucking the hairs. Experience has shown that the irritation needing to be superimposed for optimal pain reduction depends to an extreme degree on the respective user""s individual characteristics and varying sensitivity. This is not taken into consideration by the known epilators, and consequently the pain reduction achieved by these appliances is insufficient for many users.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an epilator of the prior-art type that enables, with a simple design and in economical manner, an optimal reduction of pain for different users with an individual sense of pain.
This object is accomplished in accordance with the invention in that the elements for the mechanical stimulating striking of the skin are constructed in such a way that the intensity of the striking can be varied by the user.
An alternative solution to accomplishing this object is achieved if these elements include at least one resilient component biasing the contact element elastically in the direction of the skin, and if said elements are driven by coupling to the epilating head. This solution takes account to a high degree of the aspect of particularly low manufacturing cost and extremely little constructional effort because hardly any additional components are required for driving the skin stimulation device.
Particularly advantageous is an embodiment of the invention in which the intensity of the striking is variable in dependence upon the angle at which the epilator is placed against the skin, because this enables the user of the epilator to adapt, without interrupting the epilating process, the stimulation effect to his individual needs by the simplest operation and without making any manual settings. This is also possible with an embodiment of the invention in which the intensity of the striking is variable in dependence upon the contact pressure between the epilator and the skin.
For an effective and clearly discernible reduction of pain during the epilating process it is particularly advantageous if the striking of the skin occurs in pulsed fashion. This is accomplishable in simple manner and with little effort if the elements for the mechanical stimulating striking of the skin include at least one elastically biased contact element. Ideally, this contact element is elastically biased in the direction of the skin.
Pins or cylinders, particularly spiked or gearwheel cylinders that roll off the skin, have proven to be particularly suitable contact elements.
If the contact element is guided in such a way that its path of motion defines an arc extending concentrically to the epilating head, on the one hand this will enable a particularly sensitive control of the intensity with which the skin is struck, and on the other hand it will ensure, as a result of the constant distance between the epilating head and the skin stimulation device, that the skin cannot be pinched between the contact element and the epilating head.
Pain can be reduced practically completely by an embodiment of the invention in which provision is made for at least one further, non-driven skin stimulation element in addition to the driven elements for the stimulating striking of the skin. The practical implementation of such a structural concept could be such that, for example, prior to the plucking process the section of skin to be epilated is struck by one or several driven contact elements in order to effect a physiologically less disagreeable irritation of high intensity, while after the plucking this particular section of skin is struck by one or several non-driven contact elements that impart(s) an irritation of appreciably less intensity into the skin.
Factors contributing to the simple design of the epilator of the invention are in particular that the elements for the mechanical stimulating striking of the skin are actuated by the drive elements of the epilating head, i.e., not by a separate drive of their own, in which context it is particularly favorable in drive terms for these elements to be directly actuated by the epilating head. Pulsed striking of the skin is decisive for an optimal reduction of pain, hence a preferred embodiment of the invention provides for actuation of the elements for the mechanical stimulating striking of the skin by means of elastically deformable transmission elements. This enables, in particularly simple manner, a sudden release of striking energy after a deformation of the transmission element has exceeded a predefined value.
A further embodiment of the invention, which is also regarded simultaneously as a separable invention, provides for the elements for the stimulating striking of the skin to be provided in an attachment comprising a base body for attaching to the housing and elements movably mounted inside the base body for the stimulating striking of the skin, said elements being equipped with coupling elements for coupling to the drive elements. This solution, which is also an invention in its own right, affords the possibility of using the elements for pain reduction as accessory parts that the user of the epilator can employ according to requirements. In this way it is also possible to retrofit already existing epilators with a pain reduction device without the need for a particularly elaborate conversion with costly changes to the epilator. The embodiment in which the elements for mechanical stimulating striking of the skin are directly actuated by the epilating head is particularly suitable for configuring the pain reduction device as a retrofittable accessory.
The base body of the attachment is mountable on the housing by positive or, alternatively, frictional engagement therewith; an embodiment in which the base body is connectable to the housing by means of a releasable detent is particularly favorable, however, in terms of precision fit and stability.